The first round of the NBA Play-In Tournament of the current season ended with this game yesterday. The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New Orleans Pelicans and could knock out the rivals from playoff contention. OKC became the third underdog in four matches to beat the favourites.
Even playing away the Thunder didn’t feel the pressure throughout the game. Of course, it was not easy for them. They even went back to the locker room trailing by six points as the halftime score was 63-57 in favour of the home team. But the third quarter was determinant in the game.
Winning the third period by 39-24, Oklahoma opened a 9-point advantage, entering the fourth quarter winning 96-87. The home team even won the last period but it wasn’t enough to change the lead and the final score was 123-118 for the visitors.
Now the New Orleans Pelicans join the eliminated club and start thinking about the offseason. On the other hand, the Oklahoma City Thunder keep their season alive and will fight with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the last playoff spot in the West.
Best performances
It was a great game in general. And individually speaking it was even better. We had three players scoring 30+ points, three scoring 20+ and another three with 10+. Also, we had two double-doubles, and one of them finished one rebound away from a triple-double. We even had a player close to a triple-double and finishing even without double-digit points. Check out all the numbers.
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – 32 PTS/5 REB
- Josh Giddey – 31 PTS/9 REB/10 AST
- Luguentz Dort – 27 PTS/5 REB
- Jalen Williams – 11 PTS
- Jaylin Williams – 8 PTS/8 REB/8 AST
New Orleans Pelicans
- Brandon Ingram – 30 PTS/6 REB/7 AST
- Trey Murphy III – 21 PTS
- Herb Jones – 20 PTS/5 REB/5 AST
- Jonas Valančiūnas – 16 PTS/18 REB
- C.J. McCollum – 14 PTS
Bets
As always, some of our picks happened and others didn’t. In this game, we had excellent value on the lines and most of our reds were really close calls. Check out which of our picks ended up happening or not.
- OKC Thunder +5.5 (OKC won by 5 points)
- Over 226.5 points (241 points)
- C.J. McCollum over 22.5 points (14 points)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over 43.5 points, assists and rebounds combined (40 in total)
- Brandon Ingram over 45.5 points, assists and rebounds combined (43 in total)
- Brandon Ingram has a double-double (30 PTS/6 REB/7 AST)
- OKC Thunder over 110.5 (123 points)
